Search for houses

Salah Abdeslam had been stopped by police at the Hungarian-Austrian border on September 9 while he was being accompanied by two men who carried false IDs. They identified themselves as Belgian nationals Soufiane Kayal and Samir Bouzid. Their real names, however, are not known. Police also issued likenesses of the two men. Samir Bouzid The false ID card with the name of Samir Bouzid was later used four days after the attacks in the French capital to transfer 750 euros ($810) to ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud's cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen, using a Western Union office in Brussels. Abaaoud and Aitboulahcen were both killed one day later during a police raid in northern Paris. Soufiane Kayal The fake ID under the name of Soufiane Kayal was used to rent a house in Auvelias in southern Belgium. According to Belgian media, the house was the hideout from which the assailants planned the Paris attacks and is possibly the location where the attackers made the bombs used during the November … [Read more...] about Belgium searching for two new ‘dangerous’ suspects linked to Paris attacks

Seyhan Dogan was just 14 when he was taken away by paramilitary police. It was 3 a.m. on October 29, 1995. "I remember waking up to screaming and shouting and powerful lights being shone into our house," says his younger brother, Hazni. "Special Forces broke in and took him away in handcuffs." The next morning they came for Hazni, too. They took him to the gendarmerie base where Seyhan and seven others were being held. "There was all kinds of inhumane torture," Hazni says. He can still recall the "terrible screams." Hazni was released four days later. He caught sight of Seyhan "bloody and unconscious - he looked in a very bad way." It was the last time he ever saw his brother. Quest for the truth In the 1990s the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, was fighting a violent armed struggle against the Turkish state. The PKK demanded more freedoms and greater autonomy, especially in the predominantly Kurdish south-east of the country. Turkish forces responded to PKK attacks with increasing … [Read more...] about Turkish Kurds still search for disappeared

A Mexican human rights activist who tirelessly searched for her missing daughter and organized more than 600 families to look for disappeared persons was shot to death in the northern state of Tamaulipas, authorities said on Thursday. Miriam Rodriguez was shot multiple times by unknown gunmen at her home in town of San Fernando on Wednesday, which is Mother's Day in Mexico. After her daughter went missing in 2012, Rodriguez led a search that found her child's remains in an unmarked grave. She later identified the perpetrators tied to the Zetas drug cartel, nine of whom were arrested. One of the men held responsible for her daughter's death recently escaped from prison, but Tamaulipas state attorney's office said he was quickly recaptured. Still, they responded to threats against Rodriguez by providing police patrols three times a day at her house. More than 30,000 people have gone missing in drug gang-ravaged Mexico in the last decade. Citizen Community in Search of the … [Read more...] about Woman who searched for Mexico’s “disappeared” is slain

In one of its final decisions before adjourning for summer recess on Friday, Germany's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly agreed to launch a nationwide search for a new, more suitable nuclear waste disposal site. Critics of the current repository in Lower Saxony - Gorleben - have hounded politicians to find a safer location. "This was a good day for parliament," German Environmental Minister Peter Altmaier of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) said following the vote. "The point wasn't to choose a location favored for polical reasons; it was about finding the best place [for Germany]," Altmaier said. The upper house, the Bundesrat, is expected to approve the legislation on July 5. Under the terms of the measure, the government will commission a group of roughly 30 experts to oversee the search. The panel, comprised of members of parliament, scientists and representatives from various interest groups, must present a list of criteria for the search by 2015. It must convene … [Read more...] about Bundestag agrees on search for nuclear waste disposal site, ends Gorleben debate for now

Munich's Trikont label is, by any standards, one of the world's most eclectic. Recent releases span everything from US immigrant folk songs, Mexican boleros and 1970s punk to Depression-era yodellers and Cajun swamp music. Trikont's compilation CDs are put together by experts and collectors, but as label founder Achim Bergmann said, they're aimed at a general contemporary audience. "We want to put things in a new light and show people where rock and popular music came from," Bergmann said. "We want listeners to see themselves as part of a tradition." Trikont's program is unusual but accessible. The 2004 compilation "Dirty Laundry," for instance, featured black musicians singing country songs. Forgotten recordings by soul legends James Brown and Bobby Womack were represented, as were singles by unjustly neglected singers like Bobby Jonz and Freddie North. "Dirty Laundry" proved a profitable hit, and a follow-up compilation will be released this fall, although profits aren't the … [Read more...] about German Labels Search for the Real Sound of America

The international manhunt for suspects related to last month's terror attack in Paris has extended to Britain, where the alleged mastermind of the Paris attacks had several contacts. Security services have identified “several people in Britain suspected of having connections to Abdelhamid Abaaoud,” who is believed to have orchestrated the Paris attack , according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Some of the suspects reportedly had Moroccan heritage and were based near Birmingham, Britain's second largest city. The November 13 attacks in Paris killed 130 people and wounded at least 350 more in a series of attacks on a national football stadium, a concert hall, bars and restaurants across the French capital. The UK Guardian newspaper reported that investigators have determined that at least one of the Paris terrorists visited London and Birmingham earlier in the year. "In both cities he met with people suspected of having the intention and capability of plotting … [Read more...] about European security forces extend search for Paris attack suspects from Belgium to UK

A German foreign ministry crisis team said on Tuesday, Dec. 18, that it was still investigating the reasons behind a German man's kidnapping in the western Afghan province of Herat. "We are tracking all related information and are trying to find some answers," said a spokesperson said Monday in Berlin. Police and intelligence officials in Afghanistan said they have begun a search for the 42-year-old carpenter Harald K. reported to be from the Bavarian town of Amberg. K. travelled to Afghanistan with the Green Helmets as part of project to build schools in the country. He later married an Afghan woman and was living with her and their child in the western province of Herat. Trouble at home The German aid organization is located near Bonn K., is also being pursued by German authorities on charges of embezzling money from an aid organization, according to the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. He is accused of stealing over 87,000 euros ($125,000) from the Green Helmets aid … [Read more...] about Authorities Continue Search for German Hostage in Afghanistan

For years, these liaisons and the children they produced were the source of great shame for many families. The children suffered horribly through no fault of their own. They were treated as pariahs by their communities and often rejected by their own families. But now, France can’t seem to get enough of children of the war. Television and radio shows are featuring men and women whose fathers were German soldiers serving in France during World War II. Their mothers committed what was then called “horizontal collaboration.” It’s estimated that 200,000 children were born as a result of these love affairs. All of this comes following the release of a book called “Enfants Maudits,” or cursed children by Jean-Paul Picaper, a long-time newspaper correspondent in Berlin and Ludwig Norz, a German working at Germany’s wartime archives. Picaper said he first became interested in the topic in 1995, when he wrote a story in Le Figaro newspaper about … [Read more...] about France’s ‘Cursed Children’ Search for German Roots

In what is thought to be the first phone call between the two leaders in months, Netanyahu appealed for Abbas' help in locating the three youths, who went missing in the West Bank late last week. "I expect you to help in the return of the kidnapped youngsters and in catching the abductors," a statement issued by Netanyahu's office quoted the prime minister as saying. "The Hamas kidnappers went out from territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority and returned to territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority," Netanyahu added. There was no immediate confirmation of the telephone conversation from the Palestinian side, but Abbas' office did issue a statement condemning both the kidnappings and a massive crackdown, which Israeli forces have been conducting as they search for those responsible. "The Palestinian presidency condemns ... the kidnapping of three Israeli boys and the series of Israeli violations," the statement said. "The presidency reaffirms the importance of … [Read more...] about Netanyahu demands Abbas’ help as search for missing Israeli youths continues

Author Shumona Sinha, born in Calcutta in 1973 and living in France since 2001, has been awarded the 2016 International Literature Prize of Berlin's House of World Cultures and of the "Stiftung Elementarteilchen" (Elemental Particles Foundation). Sinha shares the cash award of 35,000 euros ($39,000) with her translator, Lena Müller. Recognizing excellent works of international contemporary literature in the German translation, the prize was awarded for "Erschlagt die Armen!" (Slay the Poor; "Assommons Les Pauvres!" in the French original), a book about the experience of an Indian-born interpretor working at a French agency where refugees apply for political asylum. In a statement, the jury explained its decision, saying, "The first-person monologue avoids both a paternalistic view and xenophobic paranoia." DW: Shumona Sinha, we're meeting on a special day. Yesterday the people of Great Britain decided to leave the European Union. How would you have voted? Shumona Sinha: If I … [Read more...] about Lit prize winner Shumona Sinha: ‘As a writer, I search for the truth’